The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today urged the future Interim Government of Nepal to reaffirm its
commitment to ending and preventing enforced disappearances by signing
and ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons
from Enforced Disappearances and passing enabling laws giving effect domestically
to the provisions of the Convention. The Convention was adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations on 20 December 2006.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today called on member states of the United Nations Human Rights
Council to closely scrutinise the human rights situation in Sri Lanka and
renewed its call for the establishment of a fully-fledged human rights
operation in the country.

"There is little neutral space left
in Sri Lanka. Civilians are suffering the human rights and humanitarian
consequences of a deepening conflict and unaccountable armed forces on
all sides", said the ICJ.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today expressed deep concern after the Sri Lankan Government informed
it that the ICJ's official representative would be prevented from entering
the country to observe the inquest into the killing of 17 Action Internationale
Contre la Faim (ACF) aid workers in Muttur in August.

"It is regrettable that the Government
has chosen not to allow our independent international observer to attend
this vital inquest", said Nicholas Howen, Secretary-General of the
ICJ.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today called on the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to abide by international human rights and humanitarian
law, cease any indiscriminate or targeted attacks against civilians and
immediately guarantee access for independent human rights investigators.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) has established an Expert Legal Inquiry to investigate whether and
to what extent the Israeli Defence Forces and Hezbollah violated international
humanitarian law and human rights law during the conflict in Lebanon.

"With the welcome cessation of hostilities
we cannot just forget the scale of civilian deaths and physical destruction
over the last month.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) said today that protecting the lives of civilians in Lebanon and
Israel cannot wait the outcome of international diplomatic efforts to end
the conflict and called on both Hezbollah and the Israeli Defence Forces
to distinguish between combatants and civilians and between civilian and
military targets, as required by international humanitarian law.

The ICJ is extremely concerned by the destruction
of infrastructure and collective punishments carried out by Israel in the
Gaza Strip, and by the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier last Sunday by
Palestinian armed groups. Such acts can amount to war crimes for which
individuals can be held criminally responsible.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today called on the Knesset to repeal a law that prevents Palestinians
from the Occupied Territories being united with their Israeli spouses after
a small majority of judges (6-5) upheld the law on 14 May.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) today welcomed the reinstatement of the House of Representatives
in Nepal and called on the new transitional Government and the CPN (Maoist)
to declare indefinite ceasefires and jointly to sign a human rights code
of conduct as one of several confidence-building measures towards peace.

The International Commission of Jurists
condemns today's attack on the head of the Sri Lankan Army, Lt Gen Sarath
Fonseka and the deaths of his five guards and three civilians, reportedly
by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber. The ICJ also
condemns the Sri Lankan government's retaliatory strike against LTTE held
areas. These attacks are a consequence of the escalating violence in the
North and the East of the island, which has resulted in the deaths of over
100 people, including at least 25 civilians, in the last three weeks.

King Gyanendra has abandoned the rule of
law and deepened the conflict in Nepal since assuming direct power and
suspending almost all rights under a state of emergency, said the International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ) after returning from an emergency mission to
Nepal led by the ICJ Secretary-General Nicholas Howen.

The ICJ urged India, the US, the United
Kingdom and other states at the UN Commission on Human Rights meeting in
Geneva 14 March to 22 April to work together and urgently respond to the
human rights crisis.

The International Commission of Jurists
(ICJ) begins a four-day high-level mission today to assess the impact of
the state of emergency on the human rights situation, specifically allegations
of human rights violations perpetrated against human rights defenders,
civilians and student and political leaders in Kathmandu and in the districts
and to discuss with the government avenues through which to they could
address the deepening human rights crisis.

Attherequestofthechildrenrights'organizationDefenceforChildren
International,PalestineSection (DCI- PS), the Swedish section
of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) appointed us asdelegates/trial
observers in the West Bank.

At the end of its ten-day mission to Colombia,
the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) presents its preliminary
conclusions on the current process of demobilization of paramilitary groups
and on the consequences of the "democratic security" policy on
human rights, the administration of justice and the rule of law.